Richard Whittall:

The Globalist's Top Ten Books in 2016: The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer

Middle East Eye: "

The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer is one of the weightiest, most revelatory, original and important books written about sport"

“The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer has helped me immensely with great information and perspective.”

Bob Bradley, former US and Egyptian national coach: "James Dorsey’s The Turbulent World of Middle Eastern Soccer (has) become a reference point for those seeking the latest information as well as looking at the broader picture."

Alon Raab in The International Journal of the History of Sport: “Dorsey’s blog is a goldmine of information.”

Play the Game: "Your expertise is clearly superior when it comes to Middle Eastern soccer."

Andrew Das, The New York Times soccer blog Goal: "No one is better at this kind of work than James Dorsey"

David Zirin, Sports Illustrated: "Essential Reading"

Change FIFA: "A fantastic new blog'

Richard Whitall of A More Splendid Life:

"James combines his intimate knowledge of the region with a great passion for soccer"

Christopher Ahl, Play the Game: "An excellent Middle East Football blog"

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Prince Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa: Commander of Bahrain's armed forces and National Olympic Committee. A divorce between sport and politics?

By James M. Dorsey

Taken at face value, a rare acknowledgment by International
Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach that sports and politics are inextricably
intertwined should be a first step towards radical reform that offers a proper
structure to govern the relationship. That is nowhere truer than in Middle
Eastern, North African and Asian soccer where political domination of the game
is dominant despite insistence by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and
world soccer governor FIFA that sports and politics are separate.

Speaking at the opening of the Asian Games in Incheon, South
Korea, Mr. Bach said sports should acknowledge its ties to politics as well as
big business but at the same time ensure that it maintains its neutrality.

"In the past, some have said that sport has nothing to
do with politics, or they have said that sport has nothing to do with money or
business. And this is just an attitude which is wrong and which we cannot
afford anymore. We are living in the middle of society and that means that we
have to partner up with the politicians who run this world," Mr. Bach
said. He said politicians and business leaders needed to respect the autonomy
of sporting bodies or risk diminishing their positive influence.

Mr. Bach targeted the AFC’s and FIFA’s denial of the
marriage between sports and politics that most officials and analysts in the
soccer world freely acknowledge by noting that allowing countries to set their
own rules in football would mean that "international sport is over.”

The IOC president, who this month celebrates his first year
in office, said that governing the relationship between sports, politics and
business was a core theme of his presidency.

Mr. Bach’s vision for the Olympic Games is embedded in his
agenda for the coming six years which involves making the bidding process more
flexible, lowering the cost of hosting tournaments and creating a digital
channel to promote Olympic sports and values such as fair play.

Ensuring that the incestuous relationship between sports and
politics in Middle Eastern, North African and Asian soccer is transparent and
independent will take a lot more than focusing on the organization of
tournaments and the projection of values. Little short of restructuring the
relationship and developing a governance regime that shields soccer from
political interference will break the grip of autocratic regimes on the sport.
Middle Eastern and North African autocrats use soccer for a host of
self-serving political purposes, including pacifying populations; ensuring that
soccer pitches do not emerge as venues of protest; and seeking to improve their
tarnished images at home and abroad.

A review of Middle Eastern and North African members of the
boards of regional associations like the AFC and the Confederation of African
Football (CAF) as well as of officials populating the boards of major soccer
clubs and the ownership structures of those clubs in countries like Egypt, the
Gulf states, Syria, Lebanon and Iran shows that they are populated by members
of autocratic ruling families or executives closely aligned with government.
The same is true for Mr. Bach’s own backyard, the national Olympic committees
in the Middle East and North Africa. The intimate relationship between sports
and politics is symbolized by the powerful role that the president of the Association
of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and Olympic Council of Asia, Sheikh Ahmed
Al Fahad Al Sabah, a prominent member of Kuwait’s ruling family, plays in world
sports.

The election last year of Bahraini Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim
Al Khalifa to complete the term of disgraced AFC president Mohammed Bin Hammam,
the Qatari national at the centre of the Qatar controversy and the FIFA
scandals, also says much about the intimate relationship between politics and
soccer governance in the Middle East and Asia. Three national soccer players in
Sheikh Salman’s home country were three years ago denounced as traitors,
detained and tortured for participating in anti-government demonstrations three
years ago. The players have been released but Bahrain has since arrested two
whole teams.

Sheikh Salman, a member of Bahrain’s repressive ruling
family and head of the Bahrain Football Association, has refused to comment on
the plight of his players insisting that sports and politics are separate. British
prosecutors have been considering a petition by a Bahraini national for the
arrest of a relative of Sheikh Salman’s,
Prince Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the eldest son of King Hamad bin Isa
Al Khalifa, commander of the Gulf island’s Royal Guard and head of the Bahrain
Olympic Committee, on suspicion of involvement in the abuse of political
prisoners. Prince Nasser phoned into the show on state-run television that
denounced the three national team players in a demonstration of support of what
amounted to a kangaroo court.

Sheikh Salman persuaded the AFC Congress in June in Brazil
to tighten his political control of Asian and Middle Eastern soccer governance
by agreeing to combine the post of AFC president and FIFA vice president rather
than maintain the vice presidency as an elected position. The move was also designed
to sideline the current FIFA vice president, Jordanian Prince Al bin Al
Hussein, the one member of a ruling family, who has emerged as the foremost
reformer in soccer governance, campaigning for greater transparency,
accountability, focus on grassroots and women’s rights.

In response, Prince Ali has said he would run for election
to the FIFA executive committee when his current term as vice president ends in
2015. “I don’t care about playing musical chairs. If you are an ExCo member,
you are an ExCo member; it doesn’t matter where you sit. The composition of
Asia has changed and if we want to have all the power in Asia under one person,
time will tell if that is a good decision or not... I did notice that coming to
Brazil there were many influential players in Asia and outside of Asia and
outside of football as well that were pushing for this for whatever reason. If
that’s what they want, go ahead. Time will tell if that’s a good decision or
not… I don’t give a damn about protocol. I care about football. It doesn’t make
a difference, titles or what have you. For me, I’ve done what I had to do to
protect the interests of Asian football," Prince Ali told reporters
earlier this month.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies as Nanyang Technological University in
Singapore, co-director of the Institute of Fan Culture of the University of
Würzburg and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer, and a forthcoming book with the same title.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Sporticos

Ads

Soccer Results

The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer does not promote, link to or provide videos from any online sources who distribute illegal streaming content over the Internet with domains registered in the United States of America

Top 100 Soccer Sites

Subscribe To

Subscribe by Email

About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile